Day two of the
Anisong World Matsuri brought another packed house full of fans excited to see the next two bands performing at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center at
Otakon –
Yousei Teikoku and
FLOW.
Yousei Teikoku
After the
Anisong World Matsuri signature opening,
Yousei Teikoku's Grand Dictator for Life,
Yui, came striding out onto the stage in a sea of red light to the screams of delight of eager fans. The crowd too had changed the light of their glow sticks, and the room glowed red as the band launched into their music.
Yui was dressed in a leather shirt with no back except a single strap, a matching skirt and leg garters. She was matched by equally gothic-attired band mates, who headbanged to the music and drove forward the rock emphasis of their music.
During the third song,
Yui paused to speak to the audience, asking, "Feeling good?" Smiling in response to the chorus of voices shouting their approval, she continued, "This next song will make you go wild. Ready?"
The stage was bathed with heavy strobes and flashing lights, creating the gothic rock environment that had the crowd nonstop moving and singing along. Before long, the band moved into their popular song,
Patriot Anthem. Prior to starting the song,
Yui and the drummer sang out the chorus, teaching the crowd to call back the lyrics.
"Are you alive? For this next song, I order you to sing. You ready? We are Martyr, We are Believer, and we Just Believe the Fairy!"
Yui and the crowd practiced several times before she smiled. "You have ... pleased me. That will do."
Fans screamed excitedly as the song was played, and the screen flashed the chorus to help prompt everyone to sing along, the voices rising louder during the chorus than that of the Grand Dictator herself.
Geki was another song that had the crowd doing call backs, as they sang "Das Feenreich" along with
Yui and the flashing words on the screen behind the band. As
Yousei Teikoku moved into their final song of the night, the floor was shaking with how hard fans were jumping and headbanging to the beat.
Sweaty and happy, fans cheered, waved, and called for more even as
Yui waved goodbye and the band departed the stage, shouting "Mata ne!" (See you again!), happiness from the success of the show clear on their faces.
Set list
01. Kyusei Argyros
02, Kyouki Chinden
03. Mischievous of Alice
04. Baptize
05, DISORDER
06. filament
07. Astral Dogma
08. Patriot Anthem
09. flamma idola
10. Geki
11. Kouusou Mesorogiwi
FLOW
© David Weaver
After a twenty minute intermission, it was time for
FLOW to join the
Anisong World Matsuri fun. The fans signaled their eagerness for the rock band with cheers, whistles and light stick waves as
FLOW came on stage and launched straight into their first song,
Sign.
After the first song, the members of
FLOW took a brief MC break to greet the happy crowd. “Hello DC! We are
FLOW!" vocalist
KEIGO shouted. The energy of all of the members was palpable as the band launched into the next several songs, with fans singing along, jumping and fist pumping. The vocalists darted and switched places on the stage, with a never ending movement that kept everyone on their toes.
After
DAYS, the band took another break, and
KEIGO took the stage with a long MC. “We’re having a great time tonight! I’m so happy you guys know us! I’m even more happy we got to meet you today! There’s a great distance between DC and Japan, but the sky is connected. We’re doing this concert to connect to you. This connection will never end!”
The band launched into a few more songs before doing member introductions, which featured elaborate solos that impressed everyone in the room. The most amusing introduction was that of their guitarist,
TAKE, who came out dressed in a glow-in-the-dark cape and a mask, holding a large rod with a glowing end. He twirled it around in the black light, making a large show of his acrobatic skills to pumping electronic music. He then presented the rod to
KEIGO, who, to the laughs of the audience, presented it to their roadie.
The most exciting moment of the night was when
KEIGO announced they would perform with a special guest, who turned out to be
JAM Project's
Hironobu Kageyama. He joined them on stage and together they performed
Cha-La-Head-Cha-La from "Dragon Ball". At that moment, no matter who you were, or what fan you were, you were singing. Everyone knew that song, and in that moment, they were all one and truly tied together by music.
FLOW didn't let the energy stop there though, and went on to play
GO!!!" from "Naruto", which had fans jumping and screaming the lyrics so loudly that they could be heard over the band members themselves.
Soon after, the band thanked the audience at what seemed to be the end of the set, but calls of encore brought them straight back out, this time with
Yui from
Yousei Teikoku in tow. Together they all performed
FLOW's song
COLORS". At the conclusion of the song, the band joined hands, joking just as the bands from the night before had that they must perform the "sacred chant" of Banzai. To the cheers of the audience they did exactly that, bringing the two-day exciting event to a close.
Set list
01. Sign
02. BURN
03. Steppin’ Out
04. DAYS
05. Ryuusei
06. Re:member
07. Member introductions, solos
08. World End
09. Cha-La-Head-Cha-La (FLOW x Hironobu Kageyama)
10. GO!!!
11. kazenouta
Encore
01. COLORS (
FLOW x
Yousei Teikoku)
Anisong World Matsuri Links
Website:
http://anisongworldmatsuri.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/AnisongWorldMatsuri
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/AnisongWorld
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/anisongworldmatsuri
